I've started my next project, which is the rehab of a 3 bedroom apartment. This apartment was in a building that I bought more than a year ago and I have never done anything with this apartment. In reality, this apartment is a little more complicated than that. When I took this building over, this upstairs had actually been illegally converted to 2 units and had two separate tenants that were sharing a single electric meter. Shortly after I took the building over, one tenant left voluntarily. The other tenant refused to pay the rent and I immediately evicted him. Both of these tenants were real scumbags and the apartment was a pigsty! There were mice and roaches all over the apartment(s) and dog feces was everywhere. The tenant that I evicted had 5 or 6 large dogs that he never took outside!!!

After kicking out the tenant, I cleaned up the mess and that was the last thing I did with this apartment, except for installing a new 200 amp electric service when we did the electric services for the other apartments. My rental property business has been expanding so fast, that I just put this apartment on hold for the time being.

Fast forward more than a year to today. The plan is to convert these two illegal apartments back into one. So, instead of having a 1-bedroom and a 2-bedroom apartment sharing an electric meter, I will have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment that has its own electric meter. I started this process on Tuesday by ripping one of the kitchens out. This room will now be a bedroom. Wednesday (yesterday), I installed new glass (plexiglass) in several windows that had cracked or missing panes. My intention today is to begin patching the walls in preparation for painting. I'll take my time and plan on having this apartment ready to rent by Dec. 1st.

I had a meeting with my banker yesterday. The purpose of the meeting was to take a financial statement and tax returns to the bank, which is required each year when you have commercial loans. While I was there, I asked the banker a lot of questions about the banking industry in general, and this small local bank in particular.

Here's what I found out. My local bank keeps all their loans in their own portfolio, which means that they don't sell any loans on the secondary market. They have always required good credit of their customers and therefore do not have any exposure to subprime loans. They also have not invested in any of those mortgage derivatives that have recently been such a problem.

I asked him if the bank borrows money from the government and he replied that they normally do not. They have a strong deposit base and therefore usually don't need to borrow money for loans. In addition, with all the problems being publicized about the big banks, they have actually increased their deposits as people take their money out of troubled banks and put it in small local banks. He said that they have money to loan and their standards have not changed!!!

Finally, I asked him about foreclosures. He said that because they do not make subprime or other risky loans, that they have very few foreclosures, sometimes going an entire year without a foreclosure. At the present time, they only have two foreclosures. Both of these are rental properties owned by the same guy.

I had been curious about these issues and found the answers to be enlightening. The bottom line is that while the big banks have gotten themselves in a lot of trouble, there are many small local banks that have been doing things right and these banks are operating with business as usual.

After a relaxing 3 day weekend, I was back to work today. I started the morning with a trip to the 2 bedroom house to meet with the government contractor that is weatherizing my house (for free - thank you taxpayers)! They finished up this morning by blowing the insulation in the walls and doing some caulking around windows. I was extremely happy with the job they did and even happier with the price (FREE).

After that, I dropped off some additional paperwork at the bank, so they can get my line of credit renewal finished. After lunch at home, I went back into town to install a curved shower curtain rod (made of 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe) at one of my low income rentals. I also moved some of my supplies from an apartment building basement to the storefront at the pink elephant, which will be my new storage facility for all my real estate supplies.

I don't know what I will do tomorrow, but I'm planning to do something.

After my Brush with Socialism over the past couple of days, I needed a break!  Therefore, I took yesterday off to help my nephew get his car running.  The car is an interesting story and is actually real estate related, so it ties in well with this blog.

My sister and brother-in-law are also in the rental property business (in another city here in Ohio).  In fact, they operate a LARGE rental property business.  They recently bought another rental property at an estate sale.  It is a very large 4-bedroom house and they were the only bidders.  While at the auction, they saw a 1976 Jaguar XJ12 in the yard that was also being sold.  My nephew is just starting to drive and he wanted to buy the car.  The car had been the pride and joy of the owner, who had recently died - thereby necessitating the estate sale.  To make a long story short, they bought the car for only $500.  

The car is in good condition, but hadn't been run for about 4 years, since the previous owner became sick.  So, my father and I went up there yesterday to work on the car and try to get it running.  After a long day of working on it, we finally did get it running.  With a little more work, my nephew should be driving it very soon. 

I'm taking the rest of the week off!  Have a good weekend! 

I am generally not in favor of the government being involved in business and I'm certainly not in favor of socialism. In fact, I'm 100% against it. However, my experience today has shown me that "sharing the wealth" can be a good thing - at least when the taxpayers are sharing their wealth with me!!!

I had a personal experience with socialism today, when the government paid for an expensive energy efficiency upgrade of one of my 2 bedroom houses. In fact, they not only paid for the upgrade, they provided the contractor, the materials, EVERYTHING! Cost to me? NOTHING!

I mistakenly wrote in yesterday's post that this "weatherization" was from the CHIP program. After talking to the crew today, I discovered that these improvements were being made under an Ohio Department of Development program called the "Home Weatherization Assistance Program".

The crew that came out did an excellent job. They blew in about 12 inches of insulation in the attic today and they will blow insulation in the walls on Monday. In addition, they wrapped the water heater in an insulating blanket, wrapped all the water lines with insulation, installed a GREAT insulation package around the doors, and did other work. I'm sure that all this work is worth more than a thousand dollars! THANK YOU TAXPAYERS. I am grateful!

After discovering what a great deal this was, I went to the office where this program is administered and asked for weatherization applications for my other tenants. The lady in the office asked how many applications I wanted and I responded that I would take as many as they had. They only had SIX. I took them and asked if they would mind if I made several dozen copies - one for each of my tenants!!!

If they will do this weatherization on all my properties, I'm sure that will add value in the six figures! Maybe this socialism isn't so bad after all! I guess I just didn't understand what socialism was. I thought it was taking from the rich to give to the lazy. Now I know that socialism is taking from the taxpayers and giving to ME!!!

I spent yesterday installing baseboard heat in the 2-bedroom house that I purchased a few months ago. The total cost of the project (excluding my labor) was $242 and it took about 5 hours. The CHIP program will be arriving this morning to begin insulating the house and doing other things to make the house energy efficient. On an interesting note, the contractor for the CHIP program looked at the house yesterday and then called to let me know that they weren't allowed to drill the holes in the exterior walls (to blow in the insulation) because it has asbestos siding. However, I am allowed to volunteer to drill the holes. I did volunteer and will meet them at the house later this morning. They will mark the spots where the holes need to be drilled and will even provide the drill bit/hole saw.

I feel good about getting some of my tax money back through the CHIP Program and I'm going to see if I can get my other tenants to request that their rentals be made more energy efficient. In fact, I'm planning to stop by the Chip office today and pick up some applications to give to my tenants.

Several people commented on yesterday's blog entitled "New Scam" and everyone saw the same thing that I did. The tenant faked a gas leak and wanted me to hire her "uncle" to fix the leak. The purpose of this scam was to bill me for a non-existent gas leak and then she would use the money to have her gas turned back on (it was shut off for non-payment). The moral of this story is that you should NEVER trust anything a tenant says. I assume that everything a tenant says is suspect until proven otherwise and most of the time - I'm right!

Today, I had a meeting with the bank about renewing my line of credit. I had to take in a financial statement, rent roll, tax returns (both personal and business), and an updated business plan. The banker said that the line of credit should be renewed in the next couple of weeks.

After my meeting at the bank, I went to the Pink Elephant to install a new stainless steel sink. Very few projects ever go as planned, but this was one of them. Everything went smoothly! I guess there's a first time for everything.

Tomorrow, I'm installing electric baseboard heat in one of my two bedroom houses. The tenant applied for a grant to have the house made more energy efficient and that was approved. So, as soon as I install the electric baseboard heat, the local CHIP Program is going to insulate the house and do other things to make it more efficient. I had to sign a contract with this program that I would keep the property for 5 years and not raise the rent on the tenant because of the increased efficiency. DONE!!! What a deal!

This evening, I received a call from one of my tenants. She told me that the gas company had shut the gas off at her house because she smelled gas. She said that they left her a note saying that a certified plumber needed to inspect and repair the gas before they would turn it back on.

I was somewhat annoyed that she called the gas company instead of calling me, but I told her that I would call my plumber tomorrow to come and look at the situation. She said that her uncle was a plumber and that she wanted her uncle to look at it. I told her that we had our own plumber and that she could NOT use her uncle.

About an hour later, I received a second call from this tenant. She said that she had found the problem which was a loose gas line going to the stove. She said that she no longer needed our plumber to come work on the gas. I responded that the gas company would not turn her gas back on until it had been cleared by a licensed gas provider (plumber).

After a short pause, she said that the gas had been turned off on October 14th!!! After questioning, she said that it was shut off for non-payment and that she had paid the bill today.

Have you figured out what's going on here? Think about it and I'll give you the answer in tomorrow's blog.

It was truly another great 4-day weekend! Once again, we went camping with friends from Church. During this trip, we went mountain biking at both Momba (near Dayton Ohio) and at John Bryan State Park near Yellow Springs, Ohio. For those of you that are mountain bikers, both courses are absolutely excellent. We rode 10 miles on Friday and 11 miles on Saturday. I especially enjoyed the ramps at John Bryan State Park!

While we were camping, I received 3 calls from tenants. The first call was from a tenant with a leaking shower. I will fix that today. The next call was from a tenant with a leaking sink. I'll fix that today also. The final call was from a tenant who wanted me to check her furnace and I'll also do that today. Three one-minute calls during my four day weekend - no big deal.

This was our last camping trip this year, so I'll be working a little more steadily on my rentals during the next six or seven weeks - until snowboarding season arrives!

Today was the last day of my workweek, because my wife and I are going camping tomorrow. I worked about 5 hours today and got a lot done. My mission for the day was to fix the recent storm damage to one of my nicest houses. The hurricane force winds of Ike here in Ohio blew the facia off the house, blew some of the siding from one end of the house, and damaged several shingles. I fixed all of that today and did some work on the sidewalk which consists of decorative 18 inch stones.

I also showed one of my vacant 2 bedroom apartments to a woman today. She was an attractive, well-dressed woman looking at one of my lowest rent apartments. She said that she will definitely take the apartment, but I don't have a good feeling about her. Something just doesn't add up with this woman and I'm betting that she'll turn out to be a druggie.

I'll be back Sunday evening and start posting again next week! Have a good weekend (in advance)!

We had a great time Saturday riding mountain bikes at Momba, in Dayton. What a beautiful mountain biking course it is! The trails were almost perfectly maintained and well marked. All of the bridges were absolutely beautiful and several of the bridges were actually curved. It is by far the best course I've ridden yet. We rode every inch of the course and it was just a little over 10 miles.

Today, I ran an application on a potential tenant for my six bedroom house. This married couple looked good and said all the right things. However, after only about 30 seconds of screening, I discovered that they had been evicted in 2005, which they lied about. That ended the screening and I wrote REJECTED on the application.

I did work about 3 hours on a rental today. Nothing exciting, just routine maintenance, including fixing a broken shower handle. I also did a little stock trading today, selling a covered call (option) on the Ford Stock that I bought. I'm expecting that the stock market will be going lower in the very near future. I'm afraid that all we've seen is a bear market rally.

This is going to be another short week. I'm taking another 4-day weekend to go camping, probably for the last time this year. We'll be gone Thursday through Sunday and will be riding two or three different mountain biking courses. Should be a lot of fun.

Tonight, I would like talk about something very serious - the financial crisis. You probably think that I'm talking about the credit crunch or the housing crash or the subprime fiasco. However, I believe that those are simply symptoms of the real problem. What could possibly be a bigger problem than the current financial crisis? The answer is quite simple - both as citizens and as a government - WE'RE BROKE!

For the past several decades, the United States has gotten away from the things that made us great. We are no longer a country of tough pioneers who work hard; innovate; and have a "can-do" attitude. We no longer are a manufacturing power, that produces things here and ships them around the globe. We have become a socialist country with a large percentage of the population who are too lazy to work and who are a drag on our society - both from an economic standpoint and from a moral standpoint. The rest of the population has become addicted to credit and we have lived far beyond our means - all on borrowed money. That is literally the cause of the economic symptoms that we are STARTING to see.

Our country is now approaching the point of collapse. We have reached a tipping point with the government promising everything to everyone AT A HUGE COST and a workforce of taxpayers that will soon be dramatically shrinking. The baby boomers are starting to retire at the same time that we have an ever-increasing population of lazy deadbeats whose only mission in life is to avoid work. While it is certainly politically incorrect to say this, I see it first hand in my rental business on a daily basis. The other astounding thing about this group of deadbeats is that they are breeding at a phenomenal rate and their children are the next (larger) generation of deadbeats who feel entitled to a handout. This is literally destroying the country.

What WILL happen in the near future is that our country will literally collapse. An ever-shrinking number of taxpayers simply can not afford to pay for an ever-increasing number of deadbeats, let alone pay for the hard-working, honest people who have been promised social security and medicare. The bottom line is that the ponzi scheme being perpetrated by the US Government is coming to an end.

Now that I've discussed the actual CAUSE of the real problem, let me discuss what I expect to happen. We WILL have a depression which will be unprecedented in scope. We will have panic as inflation runs away, thanks to the government printing trillions of dollars from thin air. We will have the public lose confidence in the dollar and start to barter with things other than paper money. Unemployment will reach record highs (in excess of 25%). Our economy will collapse and essentially cease to exist. None of this is brain surgery - it's just common sense and the absolutely inevitable result of the mismanagement of our government. It has happened over and over throughout history and will soon happen to us.

What will be the fallout of this collapse? Our country will dramatically change. All of our socialized programs must be drastically cut or eliminated. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and many other government programs will need to be drastically cut or eliminated. Many companies will fail and the retirements owed to their employees will disappear.

The point of all this is not to depress you. The point of this is to challenge you to think of ways to protect yourself. What I have predicted may not happen NOW, but it MUST happen in the near future - it's a mathematical certainty.

My first suggestion is to stock up on extra food and water. The goverment has spent millions of dollars over the past couple of years to try to spread this message. They have promoted this preparedness via commercials about terrorism, bird flu, and other issues but the advice is just as valid for times of economic collapse and civil unrest. In fact, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they knew this was coming and were actually promoting preparedness for this emergency.

In addition to stocking up on needed supplies, I would argue that you might consider preparing for your own retirement. I don't believe that social security will be there for most Americans in the future and the same will almost surely be true of employer retirement plans and even 401K's. Also, you should realize by now that the advice to put your money in a diversified portfolio in the stock market for the long term has been nothing more than a marketing scam by the financial companies. If you invested in a diversified portfolio 10 years ago, your portfolio is now worth LESS than 10 years ago. SO MUCH FOR BUY AND HOLD in the stock market!

My solution to the problem has been to build a rental property business. People will always need a place to live and absent government stupidity, the rental property business SHOULD do well in (and after) the decline. However, this post is not an advertisement and I am not recommending that you start a rental property business. In fact, borrowing enough money to build a significant rental property business in today's market would be VERY CHALLENGING. It probably is too late for many people to start a rental property business at this point. What I am recommending it that you consider starting a business that will be needed in, and after, a collapse. Even if you only do this part time, at least you won't be completely dependent on the government or private industry to provide for your future. Essentially, what I'm saying is that you need to depend on YOURSELF, not a company and certainly not the government. My suggestion would be to consider what products and services are needed in any economy and consider starting a business to address that demand. As an alternative to starting your own business, certain types of employees will be needed in any economy and should be relatively crisis proof. Employees will always be needed in medicine, law enforcement, the food industry, and the clothing industry. In other words, people will always need to buy the basics of life - food, shelter, and medical care. It's your job to decide how you can fill a need in one of those areas.

I learned a valuable lesson while in the military that can be summed up as the 7 P's. Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. My suggestion is to PLAN NOW!

I spent yesterday morning watching the stock market and doing a little stock trading. I have traded stocks for over 10 years, as a hobby. I believe that we may get a short, but intense rally next week and therefore I bought some Ford stock at $2.10 with the intention of selling a covered call (option) on it. I got the stock, but the didn't get the option due to the incompetence of the options specialist that was handling this option. I wasn't happy about that, but couldn't do much about it. Ameritrade's phone lines were absolutely jammed and it was hard to talk to one of their people. It will probably work out fine anyway, because I'll just wait for the rally and then sell the covered call. By waiting for the rally, the I'll get a higher option premium for selling the call.

By 1pm, I was feeling guilty about not doing any real work, so I got in the truck and headed for town. I finished rehabbing the two bedroom apartment that I have been working on and moved my tools and equipment out. To finish the apartment, I put a second coat of paint on the cabinets and steam cleaned the carpet in the living room.

Next on the agenda was to steam clean the carpet in the living room and hallway at my six bedroom house. The water is off at that house, so I had to take 5 gallons of hot water with me.

Finally, I stopped at a 1 bedroom apartment to unclog a clogged tub drain. That consisted of pouring some Glug pellets in to the drain followed by a cup of hot water. That took less than 2 minutes.

I didn't want to miss the close of the stock market two days in a row, so I only worked about 2 hours yesterday. When I arrived home at about 3:30, the market was up by about 120 points. The fluctuations were wild and the market ended down another 120 points.

I'm up bright and early this morning to go mountain biking. A friend from Church is meeting me at 7:30 and we're going to Dayton to mountain bike at Momba. I always look forward to mountain biking at a new course. We're getting an early start so that we can be home for the 3:30 kickoff of the Ohio State vs. Purdue football game.

Have a good weekend!

They say that timing is everything. As of late, I have been absolutely fascinated by the wild stock market action and the attempts by the government to stabilize it. I've been trying to get home by 3pm each day, so that I can watch the final hour of stock market trading. I've been trading stocks on a small scale for over 10 years (for fun) and have been predicting a new short term low of 7,700 on the DOW for many months. As the market approaches that level, I will be SLOWLY buying.

My day started this morning with a trip to my accountant. There were a couple of last minute issues that she wanted to discuss as she was finishing up my tax returns for 2007. After clearing up these issues, I returned home to watch CNBC and fly my radio controlled helicopter. I stayed home through lunch and then headed into town to do a little work on my rentals. My first stop was at Lowes to buy carpet for 2 bedrooms and the hall at one of my apartments at the Pink Elephant. Within an hour after arriving at the apartment, I had both rooms of carpet installed. These were exceptionally easy rooms to carpet as they were relatively small and perfectly rectangular.

My next mission was to meet with a tenant at another apartment building. She moved in at the beginning of the month, but is handicapped. I initially signed the lease with her son because she couldn't be there when they moved in her belongings. So, today, I met with her and signed the lease with her so that the paperwork would be right.

Having gotten the paperwork straight, I moved on to the next apartment building where I needed to install a new lock on one of the doors. I completed that just prior to 3pm and started for home (to catch the last hour of the stock market). However, just as I was putting the truck in gear, the phone rang and my accountant said that she had my taxes done. Therefore, I drove to her office to pick up the taxes. We briefly discussed the various returns and also discussed the current economic crisis. She is just about as frustrated with our government officials as I am.

By the time I was on the way home, it was already 4pm. I heard on the radio in my pickup truck that the DOW was down over 600 points! Wow! That means that the DOW is down over 2,300 points in the last 7 days! That's a major drop. I don't know what I will do tomorrow yet, but I'm sure that something will come up.

The third time really is a charm and after having the last two days off, I got back to work on my rentals. In fact, I got a LOT done! I started out this morning making a couple of commercial loan payments and going to the post office for stamps. Next, I went to one of my apartments that has had a persistent roof leak, the idea being to check it during the rain. As luck would have it, even though it was raining, the roof wouldn't cooperate (and leak) while I was there.

My next project was to clean out the basement at one of my 2 bedroom houses that I just rented and wait for the gas company to show up to turn the gas on. The timing worked out great as I got the basement cleaned up just as the gas company tech arrived. The tech turned on the gas, but wouldn't light the furnace because he thought it needed to be inspected. He didn't red-tag it, but he just wouldn't light it. I am not a gas furnace expert, so I called the professional I use for HVAC and he arrived within a half-hour. He disassembled the burners, cleaned the unit, installed a new thermocouple, re-assembled everything, lit the furnace, and checked for carbon monoxide - all for $75! Money well spent.

The Pink Elephant was my next stop, where I painted both bedrooms; repaired and painted the kitchen cabinets; and measured the bedrooms for new carpet.

That was it for today! All in all, a very productive day.

I arrived home in time to watch the final hour of stock market trading, which once again ended down (189 points). Tomorrow's stock market should be interesting because the ban on short selling (of the financials) ends at midnight tonight! I think the market still has a long way to go and I'm hoping that the coming DEPRESSION will allow this country to reset the clock on capitalism. What no-one is talking about is that our entire country is broke. We've promised everything to everyone with all these silly entitlements and we simply can't afford it anymore. At some point, personal responsibility and sanity MUST return to our country and I'm hoping that the depression will allow that to occur. Housing is NOT a right. Healthcare is NOT a right. Success is NOT a right. Profitability is NOT a right. Once we realize this, maybe this country can get back on the right track. Freedom is a right - the freedom to succeed or fail based on how hard and smart you work!

For the second day in a row, I had every intention today of doing a little work on my rentals. For the second day in a row, that didn't happen. My excuse today was that I needed to fix the motorhome after discovering last night that all the DC electric was inoperative. This is an issue that first occurred on our last camping trip. After that trip, I discovered that a DC Buss Bar had gotten hot and melted the plastic insulating material where the supply was connected. As a temporary fix, I jumped the supply wire to another post. It had apparently worked fine every since.

After our last trip, I contacted the manufacturer, Holiday Rambler, to get a replacement part. Unfortunately, the part is no longer in production and they didn't have a good idea for an alternate part. Motorhomes are basically built individually as they are ordered and no two are exactly the same. I hadn't gotten around to searching for another supplier of a similar part.

At any rate, this was a self-inflicted problem. When I started working on the unit today, I discovered that the battery was completely dead. My initial thought was that the converter had died, but as it turned out, it was still unplugged from where I worked on the problem last time. So, I recharged the battery and while that was occurring, I decided to fix the Buss Bar problem. I disassembled the buss bar and found that each individual terminal was contained in a separate fuse unit. Therefore, I moved the fuse unit that was at the damaged spot on the Buss Bar to another spot and reassembled the unit. Everything worked fine.

Next on my agenda was to make a trip to the bank and post office. I then returned home and watched CNBC as the market was crashing yet again. What could be more dramatic than watching the country heading into the 21st century version of the great depression? While watching the market tank, I paid a few bills.

After the stock market closed, I went for my daily bike ride. That was it for today and I'm looking forward to watching the Presidential debate tonight.

Now that I've been lazy the last two days, I am absolutely committed to doing some work on the rentals tomorrow. You know what they say - the third time's a charm!

I had every intention of working today. Unfortunately, no-one told the dishwasher about that. Our dishwasher (at home) broke down yesterday and my wife "encouraged" me (threatened me) to get it fixed today. So, I dug out the manual for the 9 year old machine and read through the troubleshooting section, which was no help. I could not find an electrical schematic for the machine, so I took it apart anyway, looking for anything that may be a problem. When it became obvious that I couldn't track down the problem without a wiring diagram and considering that I don't know much about dishwashers, I called the used appliance store where I buy all the stoves and refrigerators for my rentals. They have a good serviceman there and I asked him to come out to the house and look at the dishwasher. Within an hour, he was at our house and within another hour, he had fixed the machine. That was the best $50 I have spent in a long time and my wife is happy that the diswasher is back in action, which makes me happy!

Since I was home, I decided to fix a light on my motorcycle, which had become loose during last weekend's cross country trip to the Tail of the Dragon. By the time I got that fixed, the stock market was down more than 500 points, and I became interested in watching that.

Next, my accountant called and said that she had a few last minute questions about my personal return. So, I drove to her office to discuss these matters with her. Needless to say, my taxes are on an extension and I've got to send them in by October 15th.

Finally, I went on my daily bike ride. Today, I decided to ride my bike to a nearby state park and to ride up and down a bunch of large hills.

Tomorrow, I am once again planning to do some work related to my rental business. We'll see what happens!

Unless you've been lost on a desert island, you know that our country is in the early stages of an economic crisis which could easily become a depression. Approximately a trillion dollars have been spent on bailouts to date and the economy is still deteriorating. Big Wall Street firms are bankrupt and the state of California has just announced that it can not make its payroll! Things do not look good.

Fortunately, the rental property business is still doing quite well. In fact, we are at record occupancy and are renting things just about as fast as they become available. My biggest concern is that job losses and high heating costs will result in a rash of evictions in the near future. To my relief, I only have one late rent this month, so this month won't be the start of a rash of evictions. In fact, I'll post the 3-day eviction notice tomorrow for the tenant that hasn't paid and I'm still hopeful that they will pay during the 3 day period with the $50 late fee!

Tomorrow, I have to run projection at church, so that will keep me busy until early afternoon. Then, I will spend a couple of minutes posting that 3-day notice and I may show my 6 bedroom house to a prospective tenant.

It was a beautiful fall day in Ohio today and I decided to start the day by mixing a little business and pleasure. To that end, I decided to ride my bicycle to the bank this morning to deposit the rents that I collected yesterday. It was little more than a 12 mile ride, up and down several hills and I was getting tired by the time I got home. During my ride, I got three calls from tenants who were ready for me to pick up their rent.

After a quick lunch, I headed to town to get started collecting rents and to get a little work done. Between collecting rents, I installed a new dusk-to-dawn security light at the back of the pink elephant and went to Lowes to pick up a few supplies for tomorrow. I also handed out the letters to each tenant regarding the high utility prices this winter (see last night's post to read the letter).

Tomorrow will be more rent collecting and maybe another bike ride.

Today was a good day in the rental property business. I got 3 new tenants today and have a couple of other prospects. I am now out of 1 bedroom apartments and houses; out of two bedroom houses; and out of three bedroom apartments and houses. All I have left is two 2-bedroom apartments and a 6 bedroom house! I'm still hopeful that I will fill at least one of the apartments. All in all, not bad.

I also had a very good day collecting rents. I got an unusual number of payments today and am happy to have made good progress. While picking up the rents, I was also passing out a letter discussing the extremely high heating costs that will occur this winter. Here is a copy of the letter I sent:

Dear Valued Tenant,

If you’ve been following the news lately, you know that our country is in a dire situation. Many large banks have failed; the insurance industry is in trouble; the airline industry is failing; the auto industry is failing; and the economy may be on the verge of a depression. Unfortunately, that grim news may not be the worst to affect us this winter. Fuel, food, and energy prices are at record levels and this winter promises to be the most expensive in history. Natural gas prices are up 60% since just last February! Electric rates are also up and AEP has requested a 45% increase. It is imperative that each of us prepare for extreme prices this winter before the cold weather arrives. Here is a list of things YOU CAN DO to keep your costs down and ensure a safe and happy winter:

Insulate your windows with plastic. The most effective, least costly method is to purchase the type of plastic that you seal with a hair dryer. This is available at Lowes, K-mart, Walmart, and many other local stores.

If your house or apartment has a furnace, be sure to change the filter monthly. Filters cost
less than a cup of coffee and can save you a BUNCH of money if changed monthly.

Turn your thermostat down. Simply turning the thermostat down a few degrees will save
you a significant amount of money this winter. I am setting the thermostat at my house at
65 degrees this winter.

Adjust your thermostat for periods when you will be out of the house and at night. You will
save money if you set your thermostat at 60 degrees while at work and while sleeping. It’s
much cheaper to add a blanket than to pay for unnecessary heat.

When it gets really cold (less than 10 degrees), let each sink drip. This will help prevent
your pipes from freezing.

Plan for MUCH higher than normal heating bills. You can save money by cutting down on non-essentials such as eating out, un-necessary trips in the car, overspending on Christmas presents, etc.

Many people are eligible for assistance on their heating bills. You can apply for many of these assistance programs by calling one number 1-800-282-0880. This is the number for HEAP (Home Energy Assistance Program), EHEAP (Emergency Home Energy Assistance Program), PIPP (Percentage of Income Payment Plan), and HWAP (Home Weatherization Assistance Program). You can also apply for these programs online at:
www.odod.state.oh.us/cdd/ocs/heap.htm
Even if you have been turned down for assistance in the past, you should apply again.
CALL TODAY WHILE FUNDS ARE STILL AVAILABLE! You may also want to call
the local agencies if you are having problems. The Salvation Army, Job and Family Services, Community Action, and various church groups often provide help for people in
need.

Please remember that the company requires the rent to be paid on time. Unfortunately, the company is not able to accept high fuel prices, a cold winter, or buying Christmas presents as excuses for failing to pay the rent. Also, please remember that it will cost more in late fees if the rent is not paid on time. Obviously, there is no better use of your money that having a place to live and heat to keep you warm. IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL THAT YOU PAY THE RENT FIRST.

That was the letter I handed out to the tenants. My hope is that they will keep the thermostat down and keep paying the rent. I am concerned that there could be a high number of evictions this winter.

I'll be collecting more rents tomorrow.